When an Invoice or Credit Request is scheduled to be collected by Auto Charge, it is given a Pending status and the payment is held until its scheduled charge date. While an item is Pending it cannot be collected any other way - not by you, and not by the Client. Cancelling the pending payment returns it to an Unpaid status so it can be paid normally.
When to cancel a pending payment
The Client wants to pay now rather than waiting for the scheduled charge date.
The Client is paying another way - an offline bank transfer, cash, cheque, or a deduction from their pay - and should not have their card charged.
The Invoice was raised with Auto Charge enabled by mistake.
You have changed the ‘Auto charge and deferred payment delay’ field under System > Settings > Accounting > General and need an item that is already Pending to use the new timing. Each item stores its charge date at the moment it is raised, so changing the delay afterwards does not move items that are already Pending.
How to cancel a pending payment
Go to Accounting > Raised Invoices and open the ‘Pending’ tab. For a Credit Request, go to Accounting > Raised Credit Requests and open the ‘Pending’ tab instead.
Select the Invoice or Credit Request you want to release.
Click the Actions dropdown and select Cancel Pending Payment.
Confirm when you are asked whether you want to cancel the pending payment.
The Cancel Pending Payment option in the Actions dropdown of a Pending Invoice.
The item moves to an Unpaid status and its scheduled charge date is cleared, so Auto Charge will not pick it up again.
Note: Cancel Pending Payment only appears on items with a Pending status, and only for Administrators with accounting edit permissions. If you cannot see it, check the item's status and your own permissions.
Taking payment after cancelling
Once the item is Unpaid you can collect it yourself. Open it under Accounting > Raised Invoices > select the Invoice, click Actions and select Take payment, then choose a payment method. If the Client has saved card details, you can charge that card straight away.
The Client can also pay it themselves from this point, either from the ‘Unpaid Invoices & Credit Requests’ panel on their Client dashboard or through the secure link in their payment request email. Find out more about how Clients pay here.
If you are not collecting the money through TutorCruncher at all, leave the item Unpaid and record the payment against it with an offline payment method once you have received it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the item be auto charged again after I cancel the pending payment?
No. Cancelling clears the scheduled charge date on that item, so Auto Charge will not attempt it again. Any new Invoices or Credit Requests raised for that Client will still be auto charged while Auto Charge applies to them.
What happens if I leave an item Pending that I do not want charged?
It will be charged automatically on its scheduled date. If the charge fails, the item moves to an Unpaid status and a payment failure is recorded in the ‘Payment Events’ section of the item.
How do I stop a Client being auto charged in future?
Go to People > Clients > select the Client > Actions > Edit Profile and, under the ‘Accounting & Client Manager’ tab, set the ‘Auto charge override’ dropdown to ‘Override: Client will not be Autocharged’. This applies to Invoices raised from that point onwards and does not change anything that is already Pending.